Approximately 27% of US consumers who purchased alcohol in past 6 mos planned to participate in Dry January this month, per Numerator survey of 500 folks. Survey found those who planned on not drinking were more likely to be low income, Millennials (age 30-45) or Gen X (age 46-61) or heavy alcohol buyers (with annual spend over $4,200). Just under half of those going dry for month (46%) plan on returning to drinking while 42% haven't yet decided and only 13% "plan to cut alcohol even after January," per survey.

A new group headlined by Total Wine and with bipartisan support in Congress has been formed to lobby the federal government for a 2-yr extension of its proposed Nov deadline to severely curtail the legal allowance of hemp-derived THC in beverages and a 3-tier system in the cannabev space. The Beverage Alcohol Merchants Coalition (BAMCO) is comprised of Total Wine, Bevmo! by GoPuff, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and others and "supports applying the same structure that governs beverage alcohol producers, distributors, and merchants operating under state oversight and federal guardrails to ensure safe, transparent access" to cannabevs, group said in press release.

Happy Dad navigated a lotta big changes in 2025 while still managing to grow to a little over 3.5 mil cases for the year all-channel, co founders/brothers Sam and John Shahidi shared at BBD Summit. Co shifted distribution from RNDC in 14 states, expanded distribution nationally in US and Canada, added 3 new copackers, now up to 7 total, opened big credit line with JP Morgan and added more employees all within the first half of the year. It went from 76 distribs to 258 total last yr and mostly went with the AB network, tho mixed in big MC houses like Reyes in VA, MD, DC and part of TX, among others.

Global beer EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) hit $37.4 bil in 2024, reported Bernstein analyst Trevor Stirling and team as they released their Beer Profit Pool (seventh edition) report which comes out every 5 yrs. "The global overview, from barley to billions," it's called. Anheuser Busch Inbev is estimated at 23% of global volume but 36% of global beer EBIT. Number 2 brewer Heineken "accounted for an estimated 13% of global beer volume" but 12% of EBIT. So top 2 are 36% of volume, but nearly half of EBIT (48%).

"Spirits-based cocktails drove ready-to-drink growth, up 28.2% in dollar sales and 30.5% in volume" for 4 weeks thru Jan 10 in NIQ data, wrote NIQ . Cutwater jumped an astounding 161%, $35.4 mil to $57 mil in this database for last 4 weeks. In that period, it was bigger than High Noon, $57 mil to $51.5 mil. For 52 weeks, High Noon over $300 mil larger. BuzzBallz also up 45% and bigger than High Noon in latest 4 weeks tho smaller for 52 weeks. Each of Surfside and Sun Cruiser stayed red-hot, getting virtually same amount of growth tho Surfside still almost 2x as large. Surfside up 85%, $8.9 mil for 4 weeks, while Sun Cruiser up 293%, $8.8 mil. Wine-based cocktails up 28% in $$ too. But FMB/Seltzers $$ sales down 5% for 4 weeks, even tho lead brand White Claw up $3.1 mil.

Walmart Canada yesterday offered glimpse of where it's taking its "modern soda" set in new year, elevating "golden ticket" winners from Jul summit like Healtea, Farming Karma and Solly's to spots in expanded selection. Also getting a boost are non-alc beers with 30% expansion. It's all a reflection of shoppers' clear desire for "more choice, whether that's cutting back on sugar, choosing alcohol-free options or finding beverages that match how they want to feel," in words of Edward Hilling, senior omni-merchant for bevs, water and alcohol for Walmart Canada. "Our focus is on making those choices easy to find and available at great value. We've expanded our non-alcoholic beverage assortment by introducing a broader range of alcohol-free beer."

Congo Brands has expanded its zero-sugar Prime Grape Ice line into a full-fledged Zero subline as it seeks to reverse its sports drink's ongoing slump, right on heels of offering Prime-branded canned protein line (BBI, Jan 15). Joining mix are Berry, Cherry and Orange, all containing usual 700 mg electrolyte bill but sweetened with combo of sucralose and ace-K. They're available on Amazon and just headed out to retail. Grape Ice debuted last fall as first zero-sugar entry in Ice line that was briefly backed by campaign featuring Vanilla Ice.

Curaleaf is looking like one of first to blink in face of move by federal gov't to essentially render hemp-derived Delta-9 space illegal in Nov. In reporting preliminary Q4 results, Stamford, Conn-based canna player said it's dropping its hemp division "due to recent federal legislation . . . reducing the allowable amount of THC to a non-intoxicating level." So far it's still a small biz, amounting to just $2 mil in quarterly revenue including cannabis operation in Missouri that's also being DC'ed. Chmn/CEO Boris Jordan blamed pending US regs with limit of 0.3% THC content for dropping D9's and "sub-scale" Missouri cannabis operation. So far, most other players, including Tilray Brands, continue to work their D9 lines in anticipation that the effective ban will be headed off before it takes effect. And retailers like Sprouts and Circle K continue to onboard cannabevs.

Simply Good Foods has abruptly dumped Geoff Tanner as CEO, welcoming back "immediately" the man Tanner replaced, Joe Scalzo, whose tenure goes back to predecessor co Atkins Nutritionals. He'd also served as exec vice chmn and now will be reappointed to board. Move comes as strategy seemed to have become unmoored, with Atkins continuing to flounder and leaders departing its two growth brands, Quest and OWYN, at time profitability has been eroding. Co didn't cite specific reason for change except implicitly in saying Scalzo, as prexy/CEO, "will oversee a new chapter at Simply Good Foods focused on reigniting growth and improving profitability across the business." Scalzo is associated with era of good feeling at protein conglomerate, helping move Atkins to public markets in 2017 and presiding over its Quest acquisition. Chmn James Kilts, the former Gillette CEO, offered a nod to Tanner for "keeping the company positioned for success" while stopping short of saying Geoff had actually achieved success. Industry exec close to co, who'd privately predicted to us that Tanner would be gone soon, cited "lack of strategy and accountability" under former chief . . . Another key exec has left declining Congo Brands for up & coming brand. This time it's Dan Zacka, aboard at Lucky as svp sales after nearly 5 years at Congo helping to build Alani and Prime brands. He'd spent 11 years at Red Bull before then. Prime continues to soften at Congo even as Alani has exited to Celsius after falling out with founder Katy Hearn.